Anointed with Clay

by Hans Boersma

This is the gospel of Lent: He anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay. Continue Reading »

20 Mar 2023 0

Marked by Death

by Brad East

We are a people marked by death—not death as a power that holds sway over us, but rather the liberating death of Christ on the cross. Continue Reading »

2 Mar 2022 0

Our Lenten Journey

by Dale M. Coulter

Lent is a kind of death, the laying bare of one’s soul through fasting, prayer, and meditation. Continue Reading »

26 Feb 2020 0

Cross-Shaped Cosmos

by Peter J. Leithart

Our crosses chip away our defenses, perverse habits, and self-delusions, removing “what hid Christ” so he can be seen. Continue Reading »

26 Feb 2020 0

Aventine Meditations

by George Weigel

On Ash Wednesday, hundreds of English speakers climb the Aventine before dawn to receive penitential ashes and celebrate the first Mass of Lent. Continue Reading »

26 Feb 2020 0

Pork Roll, Lent, and Catholic Identity

by George Weigel

Friday abstinence was once a defining mark of the practicing Catholic, and it ought to be again. Continue Reading »

14 Feb 2018 0

An Imposition of Ashes

by Russell E. Saltzman

Just lately from the forest and after a short time on the savannah, humanity acquired a sense of self. We awakened one morning, so it seems, and if we did not know who we were we at least knew we were not like the animals. We knew we died and the animals did not. We possessed an interior . . . . Continue Reading »

11 Feb 2016 0

Christina Rossetti’s Lenten Life

by Catherine Addington

The Victorian poet Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) is most celebrated for her popular Christmas carols, but her most prolific liturgical season was Lent. A fervent Anglican, Rossetti expressed in her poems a deeper understanding of suffering than pieces like “Love Came Down At Christmas” might lead you to suspect. In her Lenten poetry, she focuses not only on her own sins, but highlights how her intense brokenness united her to God. Continue Reading »

5 Mar 2014 0